Annie Pielle, born in 1885, was the eldest of 6 children born to Martha (Timothy) and Billy Pielle.
Annie married a German man who took the name Thomas Chapman. Annie and Thomas had a home in the Toba Inlet, when they were first married. They had two daughters Mary Ann and Lena. Annie taught Mary Ann basket making before she was school aged and attended Kuper Island Residential School. She made Mary Ann several baskets for her wedding, and these remain with the family. They are of a different style than the one featured in our exhibit. Annie spent her final years in residence at Squirrel Cove and died there in the 1960s. Thomas is buried at Bliss Landing.
Annie was known for her distinctive baskets, resembling the pine needle baskets from other areas. Annie's neice, Rita Pimlott recalls that although they resembled the pine needle baskets in form and manufacture, Annie's baskets were made using cedar root rather than pine needles. No other northern Coast Salish craftswoman is known to have made baskets of this type.